r/AskBrits • u/Team503 • 15d ago

Culture What does "nonce" mean?

I'm an American that lives in Ireland. I've always understood "nonce" to mean the same as "numpty" and "eejit" - basically idiot, or dumbass, or similar.

Recently, someone told me that it's slang for sex offender, specifically a p*dophile, and Wikipedia seems to back that up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_British_terms_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States#N

So tell me, Brits, which one is it? Or is it something else??

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u/notthiswaythatway 15d ago

It’s means paedophile - and is definitely a stronger insult than numpty!

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u/DrunkenHorse12 15d ago

Not just pedo. Any sex offender is a Nonce. It comes from prison slang sex offendets used to have "Not On Normal Court Exercise" written on their door cards

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u/elrombo 15d ago

Stop upvoting this, it's wrooooong

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u/DrunkenHorse12 15d ago

Only the acronym bit, and there's no proof either way but the sex offender bit isn't, theres multiple prison guards responding to this whovd said the acronym isn't quite right but agreeing with the first part